Saifedean Ammous: Bitcoin Is “The Hardest Money Ever Created”
Although the crypto market has recently undergone a downturn, with the aggregate value of all digital assets falling by upwards of 12% and XRP temporarily ousting Ether, analysts have maintained their long-term belief in the Bitcoin Network.
Speaking with The Express U.K., Saifedean Ammous, a long-time crypto believer and economics professor, explained that BTC is the “hardest money ever created.” likely touching on the decentralized nature and the fixed/predictable issuance system that the world’s first blockchain enlists.
Ammous, who authored the now-world-renowned The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralised Alternative to Central Banking, explained that Bitcoin’s scarcity and fixed issuance schedule has allowed it to “appreciate by about 700 million percent,” from a near-worthless line of data to an asset that goes for upwards of $5,000 a pop.
He also explained that Bitcoin’s other unique features, which exemplify decentralization and the power of consumers, have allowed for the network to succeed, even against all the odds. The professor, who likely leans towards the Austrian economics camp, explained that this “upstart autonomous decentralized software,” Bitcoin, facilitates a borderless, uncensorable, and ultimately an unstoppable alternative to centralized banking and finance systems.
At put by Ammous, “Bitcoin is not the toy you want, it is the medicine you need,” likely alluding to the theory that the arrival of BTC in the mainstream will wake up the “sheep” of the world, as it were. Furthering his point that BTC is necessary, if not mandatory, the professor noted that the network and its native digital asset “are here to stay,” adding that it kicks the “ass” of every other money, solely due to the fact that its supply is predictable.
Moreover, what sets the asset apart is that its value is completely dependent on market factors, not government intervention or cards played by centralized authorities and entities.
All these aforementioned factors, makes Bitcoin, as Ammous put it, an “all-conquering juggernaut of economic incentives,” maintaining the sentiment put forth in his aforementioned crypto-centric primer of a novel. Again, encompassing the ethos of the blockchain-based currency in a few short, yet powerful words, the Lebanese American University professor explained:
The point is: bitcoin, in terms of its design and monetary policy, has a very unique property which is that it is the first monetary asset we’ve ever had whose supply is completely unresponsive to demand.
While he didn’t give a clear short-term prediction, the sentiment that he put forth evidently indicates that he expects for BTC to succeed over the long haul, even though some governments have been hesitant to accept it on the regulatory stage.
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